Our mission
We’re committed to making STEM less intimidating, more diverse and inclusive
Making young people future-ready
Automation, data, artificial intelligence and digital technology are driving change at an unprecedented rate. We’re not evolving how we educate young people at the same pace. As the STEM skills gap widens, we risk leaving young people unequipped to take on tomorrow’s challenges.
At FIRST UK, we bridge the classroom with the workplace – using robots, competitions and industry role models as a vehicle for change.
£1.5bn
estimated cost of STEM skills shortages to the UK economy per year
UK Parliament, 2025
£2bn
potential increase in UK’s labour market value if more women enter STEM
Women In Tech Gender Pay Gap Report 2020
1m
more engineers required in UK by 2030
Society of Operations Engineers, 2023
71%
FIRST UK participants wish to now pursue a STEM career
FIRST UK season evaluation 2023
65%
of STEM workforce are white men
APPG Diversity & Inclusion in STEM 2019
44%
FIRST UK participants are girls
FIRST UK season evaluation 2024
Scaling our impact
Leaning on programmatic evidence and insights of young people, educators and advisors, we’ve made excellent progress in moving from mass STEM enrichment to targeted provision for those who will benefit most.
Mission
To make STEM less intimidating, more diverse and inclusive, empowering young people to make informed choices about their future.
Vision
A world where young people are empowered to explore, challenge and grow into innovators, who will take on tomorrow’s challenges.
Values
Our values are more than words, they are what guide us as an organisation to achieve our mission.
Learn, adapt, repeat
We continually learn from our experiences and others to develop interventions which meet the needs of the young people we serve.
Focus on outcomes
We follow an evidence-based pathway to impact that demonstrates transformative outcomes.
Drive change, don’t wait for it
We step up and challenge what isn’t working, using our knowledge and network to achieve success.
Collaborate with pioneers
We work with innovative organisations in STEM who want to empower a generation to realise their potential.
Deliver efficiently
We operate in an agile and effective way, trusting in those we work with, to achieve impact at pace.
Champion Gracious Professionalism
We lead as positive examples to the rest of the community.
“Out-of-school programmes are a really important part of the ecosystem for supporting young people. They offer a chance for sustained engagement that isn’t a one-off session in a day, involving problem-solving, teamwork and other skills, which are really valuable.
STEM is not just a destination but a really important and empowering vehicle that can really help young people and communities achieve their potential, in a more cohesive, productive and socially just society.”
Prof. Louise Archer, Karl Mannheim Chair of Sociology of Education, Institute of Education, UCL
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